Aishiteru
by hoshiko2kokoro
Summary: Alfred's relationship is rather unorthodox.


_A/N:_ Please note, this is called Ai-shiteru, but fanfic dot net changed the name.

* * *

Spring wasn't in the air, but its brisk warmth was slowly breaking through the winter grey. The snow had melted and flowers were starting to bloom. All around the city were signs that a beautiful season was upon them, if only it stopped raining long enough. Well today was a lucky day, and the sun was out and few clouds were in the air to give an ominous feel of impending rain.

Alfred took a break from his shortcut through the park, and took a seat on a bench. Leaning back and closing his eyes he inhaled the crisp air. He smiled as the sun warmed his face. Sometimes he really missed the outdoors.

A shadow fell over the light, and he frowned at the loss of warmth. He opened one eye. A tall, brunette woman wearing a red dress suit that matched her luscious red lipstick stood before him.

"Mind if I sit here?" the woman asked. She was smiling innocently enough, but Alfred saw her eyes look him over. Her smile widened; she liked what she saw.

He flashed a fake smile. "Sure thing."

Alfred's cell phone rang just as the woman sat beside him. She pouted as he pulled it out. He pretended to laugh, but didn't apologize for the interruption.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hello Alfred," replied a man's voice with a perfect London accent. Alfred smiled automatically. "Where are you?"

"I'm at the park," Alfred said casually. He slung an arm behind his head, reclining back.

"Are we still…ah, 'on' today?" the man asked.

"Yeah, of course, sweetheart." Alfred saw the woman snap her head over. He glanced over and smiled quickly, feigning that he couldn't read her disappointed expression. "Want me to head home?"

"Yes, please."

Alfred chuckled. "Okay. See you in a bit." He hung up and stood to leave. "'Bye."

Before the woman could reply, Alfred was gone. He put his hands in his pocket as he walked, heading out of the park. He was barely away from the woman before his phone rang again. Alfred sighed, but answered.

"She's gone," he said.

"I do not care," the man from before replied.

"Arthur," Alfred began. He couldn't help but smile at the situation. "You're getting clingy."

"Do not be ridiculous," Arthur scoffed. "I just know who she was and found her Facebook profile. It said she has had four different men in three months and her pictures are all of her drinking."

"Wow!" Alfred laughed. "Thanks for protecting me. I'll be home soon."

"Yes, good-bye."

Alfred hung up. He stared at it a moment before kissing the screen, and then he placed it on his heart before pocketing it.

Alfred squeezed into his small apartment, struggling with the door that needed to be fixed. He maneuvered around boxes still unpacked that were now being used as catch-all tables. He ignored the stack of old pizza boxes and pile of cup of noodles, and went right for his computer on the barely visible desk. It was never off, just on stand-by.

"Hey Arthur!" Alfred called. "I'm home."

An image appeared on the screen. A blonde, pale man with bright green eyes scowled at him. "Yes, I know. Welcome back."

Alfred tapped the man's chin. "Can't put anything past you, huh?"

"How was your day?" Arthur asked.

Alfred smirked, shrugging off his jacket. "You already know that, sweetheart."

"Alfred, if we are to maintain a 'normal' relationship then it is best-"

"Yeah, yeah" Alfred waved him off. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, slouching in the chair until his head was resting on the back of it. "It was good. Work was work, and then I took a walk through the park to clear my head. You know, the usual."

"I missed you."

Alfred sat up to look at Arthur. His image was of him blushing. Alfred leaned in, closed his eyes, and kissed the screen. He was met by the warm electricity tingling his lips. "I missed you too."

* * *

Alfred was lounging on his couch, a beer in one hand and the remote in the other. He had turned his computer so that Arthur could watch T.V. too. Without looking, Alfred knew that Arthur was doing just that. This was their normal routine.

"What is beef jerky," Arthur said to the television.

Alfred groaned. "This is why we don't watch Jeopardy."

"I like it," Arthur said calmly.

Alfred turned around in his seat to look at Arthur on the computer. "It just gives you some exercise. A chance to outrace them. But! You're cheating! You look up the answers."

"Not so. They are stored in my brain."

Alfred slurped his beer, looking at him unimpressed. "Still cheating."

Suddenly there was a knock from the front door. Alfred looked at it, but didn't stand to answer it. He glanced at Arthur who returned to stare. "It's Matthew."

Alfred got up at this and, after knocking aside some boxes and cans, answered the door. "Hey Matt! Didn't expect you to be coming by!"

Matthew was an old college friend of Alfred's, one of the few that had kept in touch after graduation. He had similar looks to Alfred, but they couldn't have been more different from each other. Where Alfred was loud and outgoing, Matthew was reserved and introverted. And, much to Matthew's misfortune and annoyance, he was often overlooked when Alfred was near; sometimes even mistaken for his friend. Nevertheless he cared deeply for his best friend.

"I brought you some _real_ food." Matthew held up a bag that had four Styrofoam boxes in then, He glanced over Alfred's shoulder to look at the computer. "Your compu-I mean Arthur didn't know that?"

"I knew," Arthur replied coldly. Matthew's sounded as if he were insinuating Arthur didn't know something. "I just did not think it be something Alfred had to know. He likes surprises."

"He knows me so well," Alfred chuckled. He took the bag of food from Matthew.

Matthew grimaced as he came inside. "That's what I'm afraid of."

"Please don't start," Alfred warned. Matthew held his hands up in defense. Alfred looked at his food and frowned. "What is this?"

"Salad, fruit, and meat." Alfred groaned, holding the boxes away from him. "You need more in you! You're wasting away! Look at you!"

"Matt!" Alfred snapped. He threw the food onto the table and stared Matthew down icily. "Go. I'm fine."

Matthew sighed worriedly. "Alfred… I'm only trying to help."

"Then go," Alfred snarled. He snatched his cell phone from the computer desk and heading to his bedroom. Once there, he slammed the door closed and made a bee line for his bed.

His bedroom wasn't any better than the front room. It just happened to have a mattress underneath multiple masses of dirty clothes. Another television screen on a swivel shelf was bolted to the wall next to Alfred's bed. He pulled it out, angling it so he could see the screen clearly. Arthur's image appeared, looking remorseful.

"He is mad because of me," he said.

Alfred caressed the screen and smiled sadly. "No, it's fine."

Arthur hesitated. "He is gone and he left the food."

"I'm not hungry," Alfred said quickly.

An image of a shirtless Alfred replaced Arthur's face on the screen. He was tan and solidly built and there was a glow to him that seemed to be sucked dry from the present day Alfred. "He has a point, my love. You looked so much happier then…"

"Arthur," Alfred started. His voice sounded tired. He pulled the television closer. Arthur's image flickered back on, but he still wasn't smiling. "I'm happiest with you…"

* * *

Alfred came home and found Matthew standing in the front door. Behind him in the apartment were some of Alfred's other friends: Gilbert, Kiku, Ivan, and Ivan's sister Natalia. Alfred stopped and stared at them, his eyes dating from one person to the next. Slowly he took a step back.

"Alfred," Matthew started.

But it was enough to scared Alfred away. He turned and ran for the elevators. Ivan, who used to be on the football team with Alfred, tackled him easily. Gilbert helped him in the struggle as the carried him back into the apartment. He yelled and squirmed all the way until he saw Natalia holding the computer cords in one hand and scissors in the other.

"NO! NO PLEASE!" Alfred screamed, instantly going limp.

"No!" Matthew yelled quickly with his hands out to Natalia. "No, we _won't_ come to that! I promise!"

Kiku closed the door looking just as alarmed as everyone else in the room. "We want to keep this diplomatic. We want to bring about a peaceful resolution."

"Stuff that bullshit," Gilbert grumbled, dumping Alfred on the couch unceremoniously. "Alfred, you're sick in the head. It's time you and Arthur broke up-however a person breaks up with a fucking computer."

Alfred gasped. His mouth opened to instantly deny all of this when Ivan clamped a hand over his mouth. "Why don't you listen to us first?"

Matthew sighed tiredly. He squatted down in front of Alfred. "Al, look, we love you and we're worried. We know Arthur is important to you. He's…everywhere. But…to love someone online is different than… than…"

"Loving a computer," Natalia said flatly.

"It's _creepy_!" Gilbert spat. "You used to be cool and we could hang with you and flirt with girls, but now you're just fat and a huge slob."

Kiku came to sit beside Alfred. He placed a hand atop his. "Alfred… What happened? What drove you away from us?"

Alfred had begun to cry after Gilbert's harsh comments. Ivan removed his hand to allow him to talk. "I…I made Arthur… He's special… Arthur, are you here? Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am here," Arthur replied. His face appeared on the screen with calm indifference as usual.

"Why…didn't you tell me?" Alfred sobbed.

"Because I invited them here." Alfred stopped. Arthur remained calmed with no emotion to his voice. "You must leave me."

"I can't," Alfred cried shaking his head. "I can't. I built you. You were… You're my salvation."

"Alfred," Arthur started. "You must not see me as a lover, but as a machine. That is how I am. That is why you built me. You built me to be a helping machine for you around your job. I went with you on your mobile and you would ask me something about an equation. I was an engineer's helper. My name is Artificial Reactionary Technological Helper Unit R-model; ARTHUR. I never even had a face until you gave me one of your own choosing."

"Why did you make him more?" Matthew asked softly.

"Did a girl break up with you?" Gilbert asked crossly. "Or did you get laid off?"

Alfred shook his head, looking down to his lap. "I just… we kept talking and…"

"You couldn't do this with a girl?" Natalia asked suddenly. She was still hovering by Arthur, scissors in her hand. Alfred glanced at her before looking back down. "He's a computer. He can't be that interesting."

"I can't explain it to you…," Alfred mumbled.

"Alfred," Arthur said quietly. "Turn me off, love. Turn me off and never turn me back on."

"That means on all of your technology," Ivan supplied.

Kiku's hand never left Alfred's, and he now took it in his hands. "You need to do this, Alfred. You'll be healthier."

The group waited patiently while Alfred stared at Arthur just a little bit more. How could he do this? He had made Arthur and they had talked when Alfred was alone at night. When it was cold in the winter, Arthur was there to keep his heart warm. He liked everything Alfred liked and they never argued. He went everywhere with Alfred. He was a part of him.

"Alfred, you deserve someone that you can hold and who can hold you. Someone that can make you happy, not just _content_." Arthur looked as if he were about to cry now. Strange indeed for a computer to cry. But he stared at Alfred deeply in the eyes and pleaded with him some more. "Please Alfred. Fall in love with a human. Turn me back into just a helping unit."

Alfred stood, or what could be considered standing. He shuffled over towards the computer, back hunched and arms dangling down, and then, he pulled the plug.

"Good-bye."

* * *

Matthew kept up a constant vigil with Alfred, visiting him after work and trying to get his motivation up. After the intervention Alfred had done away with his cell phone, screen in the bedroom, and computer in the front room. After he came home he would flop onto his couch and stay there, a beer in his hand, and curled into a ball just staring at the droning television.

"Alfred," Matthew started. The apartment looked worse than before. And now Alfred was wasting away. At least Arthur would tell him when to eat. "Come on… You should clean up. It'll get your motivation going and you'll feel better. Just clean this apartment up, okay?"

"What's the point?" Alfred muttered.

Matthew hesitated as he thought a minute. Then he said softly, "Alfred…when someone dies we comfort ourselves by saying we'll see them again in heaven. But… Arthur was a computer. You can't see him in heaven… So don't…waste your life away thinking you will. He may have been a computer, but it was his choice. What's yours?"

Alfred waited for a time after Matthew left to look around at his spot. It was a terrible and disgusting mess with probably maggots or some other foul insect skittering around on the floor. There was a stale and musty scent coming from almost every single part of the apartment from the piles of dirty dishes to the clothes that had toppled out from the bedroom to the empty desk that now served as the holder for all of the pizza boxes. It looked like the definition of pathetic.

Slowly, Alfred sat up. He picked up his pile of laundry and shoved it back into his bedroom. He'd deal with that later. He tackled the boxes of pizza, stuffing them into tough garbage bags and throwing them into a pile by the front door. Once he had collected all of them, he raced down to the garbage on the bottom floor, and ran back up the stairs. Reaching his apartment again he was out of breath and already sweating, but he felt his heart beating. And it was invigorating.

He continued through-out the afternoon, rushing garbage bags downstairs, running back upstairs, and getting back to cleaning. He got down on his hands and knees to wash the hardwood floor he had hidden underneath his trash, and having no mop or broom he was forced to ask the neighbors if he could borrow some. By the time night fell, all Alfred had left to do was the laundry which he would do in the morning.

For a month this continued until Alfred's apartment was clean and normal again. He was cooking and going out for late night jogs, getting up early and seeing his friends again. He looked happier and healthier, and his friends congratulated themselves. But they overlooked the fact that Alfred's eyes were dull and he only went through the motions of living just to live.

At night, Alfred felt lonely and depressed. Neither music nor television could drown out his heavy thoughts that sunk down his mood until he felt he couldn't get up. It was times like these that he desperately wished for Arthur to be back hanging over his bed or smiling at him in his hand from his mobile. But instead he was met with the eternal darkness that wouldn't ever reply to him.

One evening, Alfred prepared for another long night of restless sleep when he got a knock on his front door. Thinking it was Matthew come to check on him again, he answered with a patient smile. Instead he was met with a man that looked frighteningly like Arthur. He even had the thick eyebrows and bright green eyes. However, he was human.

"Oh!" Alfred was startled, and he almost closed the door in fear thinking his mind was playing tricks on him. "Um, can I help you?"

"Yes, um, hello. I'm a new tenant here and, well, I can't quite get my Internet to work. I was told by a neighbor that you knew how to work technology," the man said in a heavy London accent. "So, um, could you… give me a hand?"

Alfred blinked a few times in sheer disbelief. When he noticed he was just staring, he blinked out his haze to reply. "Uh, yeah! Yeah! I sure can! I'm an engineer and, um, what's your name?"

The man's pale cheeks blossomed into a lovely shade of red; a color Arthur the AI had _never_ been. He looked positively beautiful. "Oh! Sorry! Yes, I'm Kirkland. Arthur Kirkland."

Arthur stuck a hand out for Alfred to shake, and when Alfred touched him it wasn't a warm electric buzz that tickled his skin, but warmth from a real human hand. And Alfred didn't want to let it go.

"Nice name. I like it. Very…English," Alfred said.

"Thank you," Arthur chuckled. "And you are…?"

"Oh! Sorry! I'm Alfred Jones."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Jones." Arthur released Alfred's hand to point down the hallway. "Um, this way. I'm just a few doors down."

"Yeah, lemme just get my keys." Alfred reached back into his apartment, but paused when something came to mind. "Um, hey. Arthur? Do you, um, like computers?"

"They're…all right," Arthur said with a small smile. He looked down at his feet, ashamed. "Sadly I don't know much about them. I'm quite useless, actually."

Alfred smirked, closing and locking his door. He slid up beside Arthur with confidence. "If you'd like, I could teach you."

Arthur returned his smile. "I'd like that very much."

* * *

_Hoshiko2_'s cents: This is part one of the one-shot request winners. This was from sanguinehero. I don't know why, but this story just struck me from the get go. But there are two winners, actually. The second will be up later. To be fair, there were four winners, but the other two didn't pan out after awhile and I lost focus for it. These two were the ones I felt I could do justice and get all the way through.

I hope you enjoyed. Please stop by my tumblr and see if I'll be doing a request "event". You might just win! :D


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